Quotes I love...

"I love you, but I love myself more." Samantha Jones (Sex and The Ciity.)

"Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose." Tom Krause

"Anyone can give up, that's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength."

"Try and fail, but don't fail to try." Stephen Kaqqwa 


"A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out." Walter Winchell

THOUGHT OF THE DAY.

After watching the boxset of 'Sex and The City' these past two days, I have been frantically thinking of love and how it affects people - women in particular. I have been in a relationship for five months today and of course, i've never been happier. Like any woman, I've had ex's, bad relationships and so called lusts but a real relationship is definately hard to hold down.

In ways I think most women think the same way that the characters from 'Sex and The City' think, it's true that bad past relationships put you off future progresses, and as silly as it may sound, poor experiences literally force you to be scared of becoming involved with another.

Everyone loves the so called 'honey-moon period'- girls and guys, men and women. It's natural and often a new relationship feels 'right,' whether it is or not will be discovered in the upcoming weeks, months or even years. As seen from recent divorce rates, relationships don't work out as well as they used to. Why? I guess there's no real reason.

It could be because so many people nowadays use new relationships as a healer for past relationships that didn't work out and left you depressed and sardonic. Heartbreak - I've never felt it. I guess being young is the reason for that, despite long-term relationships that I have had, none of them felt 'right.' However, right now i'm in such a happy place.

I believe that everything happens for a reason and I now believe that you should never go looking for love, love finds you when you least expect it.

Heartbreak will occur at some point of your life. The best advice anyone can give is to dust yourself off and try again...you will find happiness, no matter how long it takes!

Book review: Piers Morgan - The Insider: The Private Diaries of a Scandolous Decade.

I often read tabloid newspapers in an attempt to catch up on ‘juicy’ gossip. Seeing as Piers Morgan has been the editor of two tabloid newspapers, The News of The World and the Daily Mirror, I felt intrigued to read his biography ‘The Insider.’ I am aware that Morgan is a cocky man hence his fantastic journalistic skills and success as an executive. Taking this into perspective, I was left unsure as to whether or not I would enjoy his biography but as soon as I started reading I found myself barely wanting to put the book down.

The book is written in the form of a diary which makes it a fast an exciting read. With every flick of a page you feel like you’re taking a journey, a journey of a fascinating man’s life interspersed with both highs and lows. ‘The Insider’ describes the major events of 1994 to 2004. This includes the elections of the first government, the death of Diana Princess of Wales and 9/11. By writing about such important proceedings that have affected the world majorly, alongside writing about less important events such as the naked man who landed on the roof of Buckingham Palace, Morgan portrays just how difficult it is to make a success out of choosing and editing the most relevant and interesting aspects of particular stories. I like his way of thinking throughout the biography as it shows the reader what he was thinking at the time rather than how he sees things with the benefit of hindsight. However, Piers would have had to go back and edit his ‘diary’ like notes to make ‘The Insider’ as successful as it is which made me feel that the exciting journeys he takes us on throughout may be a little exaggerated. On the other hand though, Piers Morgan does portray the truth about himself suggesting that he is not proud of some of the things he did as a young editor (aged 28) quoting that he was a lucky young man “who rode his luck until his luck finally ran out.”

‘The Insider’ is full of wittiness which appealed to my sense of humour thus making it an even better read. Piers, unlike other executives, does not shy away from exposing people who he believes have done wrong. A prime example of this in the book is his honest opinion of Tony Blaire which left me thinking a lot less of him as a Prime Minister. A better example perhaps is Morgan’s opinion on Rupert Murdoch. It annoyed me, as it annoyed Piers, to think that he has so much power in this country despite being no form of an elected representative.

Overall I was impressed with ‘The Insider.’ It left me with a more optimistic view towards Piers Morgan as a person, I previously thought that he would be a stereotypical journalist and portray an opinion of him being correct in everything he has done, however I was proved wrong on various occasions when he admitted to his mistakes and drew away from his own private life, hinting to me that it wasn’t such a great success. I would recommend this book to others if they were looking for a fast, honest and laugh out loud funny read.

Book referencing:

Paperback 496 pages

Published September 8^th 2005

Publisher: Ebury Press

My magazine that I produced in the first year of my degree! x

http://rheannonsandells.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/magazine-finished-x.pdf

Kate Middleton to become a real 'part' of The Royal Family.

BEING a student myself, I have a strong opinion towards the vicious protest that swarmed London earlier this week.

WEDNESDAY afternoon saw outraged students taking matters into their own hands, turning a peaceful protest into a violent ceremony.

Milbank Tower, home to the Conservatives, was literally bombarded by a furious bunch of so called 'mature students,' with windows smashing, fire's lit and an extinguisher ready to be thrown. It is estimated that this foolish conduct has cost at least £1million in damage.

Many cuts in education budgets and the removal of the EMA (Education Maintenance Allowance) and ALG (Adult Learning Grant) for students that attend sixth form or colleges across the country, were also major concerns for the demonstration.  The rally was set-up by the NUS and the UCU (University College Union).  President of the NUS, Aaron Porter was furious with those who had taken matters into their own hands; “It’s an utter disgrace.”  “Perhaps 500 or more have chosen to use disgraceful tactics to try and undermine us.”

Over 50,000 students stormed through London with violent expressions implanted on their faces, blaming Nick Clegg in particular for "broken promises." In the Liberal Democrats manifesto, Clegg promised a cutback on tuition fees and many of the Lib Dem MP’s signed pledges against increases on university fees. By the looks of the violence portrayed at the protest, the physical battle may have been over on Wednesday night but the war between students and the Coalition government has only just begun.

I admit no one can condemn the animal-like behaviour that turned the successful protest into a shamble of fury. However, should the overwhelmingly peaceful majority of students really not get another chance to protest their opinion on a potential increase in tuition fees?

To quote the French Premier George Clemenceau, ‘If a man is not a socialist in his youth, he has no heart. If he is not a conservative by the time he is 30 he has no head.’ Regardless of how you feel about any part of this quote, I think it reflects the assumption that younger people are more likely to feel strongly about issues, that at first glance, seem roundly unfair.Without a doubt at first glance the trebling of tuition fees does seem pretty unfair and therefore students, like myself, will have strong feelings of anger that they'd like to deal with.

Personally I do agree that these students had a right to march the streets. Like me, they were angry with proposals of an increase in tuition fees from £3,290 to a horrifying £9,000 per year. The way various small groups dealt with their anger towards David Cameron and Nick Clegg could clearly have been pursued in a more positive manner, such as following the original march in order to defeat the Coalition Government's outrageous proposal.

Obviously trebling tuition fees isn't as unfair enough to warrant through London with a fire extinguisher, like some foolish person on Wednesday, but it is unfair enough for students to cause a bit of commotion on the streets, with their future being their highest interest.

Given that the people who the rise in fees are going to effect are a bit too young to take to the streets (and don’t have the organisational backing of the likes of the NUS), who else is going to protest on their behalf if not current students?

It's easy, as I’m doing, to sit back and ponder the theoretical rights and wrongs of raising tuition fees. On a selfish note, I worry for the likes of the children I will have in the future because who knows what the world’s going to be like when they are ready to go to university  (if they decide to go at all).

In conclusion,  I am a student and seeing that tuition fees are going to triple, and universities aren’t going to have to do anything to show for it, bankers are still getting massive bonuses, and billionaires are getting away with paying less tax than really they should... my heart, like the rest of us outraged students, is certainly telling me to do something about it.

Rheannon Sandell

MARCH OVER TUITION FEES TURNED INTO A VIOLENT BATTLE.

LONDON was swarming with thousands of lecturers and students protesting against an increase in student fees yesterday lunchtime.

FIGURES suggest that over 20,000 protesters stuck together in order to pressurise the MP's who will vote for the £9,000 tuition fees at the end of this year. 

Evidence from photographs and video captions reveal the marchers strong feelings of hatred towards Prime Minister, David Cameron, and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg. Banners made by the students themselves were claimed as "offensive" to both Cameron and Clegg, often accusing them of 'betraying the students,' in somewhat ambiguous terms. 


It has been revealed that over 50 people were arrested throughout the protest, turning the 'noisy but good-natured' march into a 'violent breakaway.' A small group left the march and gathered around the Millbank office building. Windows were smashed and at least seven police officers were badly injured at the scene, causing distress for the rest of the public who were simply at the protest to put their opinion across in a good manner. 


Within a matter of moments, demonstrators had forced their way into the entrance upon the smashing of the windows. Those closer to the scene say that the protesters violently smashed everything in sight with unreal amounts of ferocity. 

Instead of the good turn-out of students making a desperate call for tuition fees to stay as they are, some over rowdy middle year students displayed their levels of violence through a 'hijacking' of the protest, taking it away from it's planned route. Now all that can be predicted is that MP's will indeed vote to treble tuition fees and students will be left with no justice whatsoever. 

This march is definitely one that will be televised and remembered for many years.




Rheannon Sandell

THOUSANDS OF LECTURERS AND STUDENTS MARCH IN PROTEST.

THIS morning, thousands of lecturers and students will march across London over plans to treble tuition fees in England by 2012.

THE National Union of Students have organised 'the students in red' day of marching in order to abolish such appaling thoughts on increasing tuition fees.

Aswell as defeating proposed student fees, the NUS is also calling for a national bursary system. This will ensure that support is given depending on how much students need the money, rather than what university they are based at.

"Currently tuition fees stand at £3,290, to increase this to a further £9,000 would be outrageous," claims Neda Keyhani, a second year business student from The University of Portsmouth. 

As many current students would agree, university fees are already a struggle to deal with. To then treble such fees would not only cut the amount of students applying to university, it would also inevitably hit new students from middle-income families at a time when they are struggling to cope with the impact of the credit-crunch.

If the 'march' around the streets of London has any effect, MP's who will vote for an increase in tuition fees by the end of the year, will today feel copous amounts of pressure forced upon them by the NUS. 


Rheannon Sandell